Paper Foundation
I had a wonderful day being shown round Paper Foundation by Mark Cropper the other day. Mark is a sixth generation Cumbrian paper maker and chair of the renowned James Cropper mill. Although I work on paper I’m ashamed to say that I don’t give it a huge amount of thought. I know that I like drawing on smooth paper and that I also love buff coloured sugar paper. My main concern usually is getting an image onto the paper. I buy it from art supply shops without ever really wondering how, or where it’s made. It’s so ubiquitous I take it for granted.
Mark and Tom are so knowledgeable, their enthusiasm is catching. Watching Tom pull a mould out of a murky bath of mashed up rags and water, briefly waiting for the water to drain back into the bath …. and there, as simple as that, is a perfect sheet of paper, it’s like watching the ultimate magic trick. Just like that I’m transported back through time to the ingenious invention of paper and the possibilities it holds. Simple, handmade, word spreading, culture building, paper.
I visited them a day after a group of medieval manuscript experts from Oxford University had been to see them. This is a new venture, set up in lockdown I think, but their archive library is already up and running and they have great plans for the rest of the Ellergreen building. Studios, bookbinding courses, a gallery. A place for the study/and enjoyment of paper.
